Mortgage Applications Increased Last Week

 Econintersect: Mortgage applications increased 2.7% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 18, 2011. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 2.5%.  The four week moving average is up 1.0% for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 3.3% for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity remained constant at 66.4% of total applications. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.9% from 5.6% of total applications. 

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.80% from 4.79%, with points decreasing to 0.96 from 1.07 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.  The effective rate decreased from last week.

Sources:  Mortgage Bankers Association and Calculated Risk